Brad DeLong, Grasping Reality with Both Hands, questions whether the copy of the Magna Carta being sold by Sotheby’s is in fact “the only copy in the United States and the only privately owned copy.”
“That’s just not true!”
Go see what he means.
Category: Best Line of the Day
Clever turns of phrase, special splashes of wit, provocative insight — all in a sentence or two.
Stupidest line of the day, so far
“I’m pretty sure there will be duck hunting in heaven and I can’t wait.”
Governor Mike Huckabee to the NRA
(Jon Stewart responded to the clip with: “Governor are you saying that our heaven is duck hell?”)
Or how about John McCain when asked whether he thought the Constitution established a Christian nation.
“I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”
These guys aren’t presidential. They all act like puppies desperate to have their ears scratched.
Best simple answer today, so far
Everybody’s asking today, “Why are the Republican front runners skipping all the debates sponsored by racial and ethnic minorities? That just doesn’t seem smart.” I think people just don’t want to admit the obvious:
The Republicans are the party of racists.
Meanwhile the Democrats are the party of idiots.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that every child born in the United States should get a $5,000 “baby bond” from the government to help pay for future costs of college or buying a home.
Let’s borrow even more money — but this time we’ll give it to the poor saps that have to pay it back, the newborns. As Functional Ambivalent points out, what has she been smoking?
Best line of the day, so far
“You simply can’t run a middle-class democracy with a millionaire press corps.”
Best line about Fox Sports today, so far
“I know I don’t have to tell you this, but Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are back to ruin yet another American League Postseason.”
Best line of the day, so far
“Texas passes state law allowing prayer in schools. Kansas expected to ordain its teachers in response.”
(Here’s the background on the Texas law from the Houston Chronicle.)
Best line of the day, so far
“Who could have guessed the smartest person named Simpson would end up to be Homer?”
Alex Kaseberg quoted at Sideline Chatter. Less smart than Homer are O.J., Jessica and Star.
Best line about our asinine congress, so far
“The Senate actually voted to condemn an ad. That’s what your government did … they had a vote to pass a resolution to condemn an ad with a pun in it. And then they had Oreos and braided each other’s hair.”
— Bill Maher
Best line of the day, so far
“He’s Cheney without the humility and grace.”
Andrew Sullivan speaking of Rudy!
Best line summing up the most tasteless campaign tactic ever, so far
“A supporter of Rudy Giuliani’s is throwing a party that aims to raise $9.11 per person for the Republican’s presidential campaign.”
Another good line
“Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.”
— Mark Twain
Best line of the day, so far
“Taxation, which they dislike; slavery, which they hate, and Texas, which they most cordially abhor.”
Bvt. Major Henry L. Kendrick, writing about New Mexicans, quoted in an Austin, Texas, newspaper in 1850.
We’re pretty much still like that.
Best line of the day, so far
“And Now, a Moment of Silence For Marcel Marceau”
Best nickname of the day, so far
“Frederick of Hollywood”
What some, not his political allies, are calling actor/politician Fred Thompson.
Best line of the day, so far
“Do you know the average IQ is only 100? That’s terribly low, isn’t it? One hundred. It’s no wonder the world’s in such a mess.”
— Clive Wearing as reported by his wife Deborah in her memoir, Forever Today.
In a New Yorker article, A Neurologist’s Notebook: The Abyss, Dr. Oliver Sacks tells the fascinating story of Wearing, who after a brain infection in 1985 has been left with no episodic memory whatsoever: “He was left with a memory span of only seconds—the most devastating case of amnesia ever recorded. New events and experiences were effaced almost instantly.”
It’s a fascinating article about something incomprehensibly frightening to imagine. Blink your eyes and your life starts all over again.
It’s also interesting to learn about the various types of memory — semantic, emotional, procedural — that Wearing retains. How amazingly compartmentalized our brains are.
Four best lines of the day, so far
“But by my calculation, more U.S. senators (72) voted today to condemn a newspaper ad attacking Gen. Petraeus than voted yesterday (56) to lengthen the time off troops get from the frontlines in Iraq, thereby reducing individual soldiers exposure to actual attacks.”
“Newt Gingrich says he’ll run if voters give him $30 million. I wonder what it would cost us to get him NOT [to] run?”
— FARK.com
“All around the country these days, all anyone can talk about is how bad the Irish have looked in their first three games. NBC is going through its archives to decide whether to start showing Blossom reruns in future weeks.”
“The best way I can describe it is it felt like somebody bungee jumped off my right nut.”
— Ken Griffey on his injury, via Awful Announcing
Best line of the day, so far
“You show me someone who doesn’t have skeletons in their closet. That person is a saint.”
— Albuquerque City Council candidate Paulette de’Pascal after it was revealed the B.S. and M.B.A. degrees she claimed on a candidate’s questionnaire were from the unaccredited online Almeda University. Tuesday de’Pascal acknowledged that she never took any classes for either degree.
Misrepresenting your education isn’t a “skeleton in your closet.” It isn’t even about your education. It’s about lying.
Best line of the day, so far, to make who want to know at least a little more
“In the news, firefighters in Lansing, Michigan used a forklift to remove a 900-pound man from his home.”
— Scott Adams has more.
Best line of the day, so far (if you play bridge)
“[Warren] Buffett is deeply addicted. He once said, ‘Bridge is such a sensational game that I wouldn’t mind being in jail if I had three cellmates who were decent players and who were willing to keep the game going twenty-four hours a day.'”
— David Owen in a good article on the history and current status of bridge in last week’s New Yorker, “Turning Tricks.”
Best line of the day, so far
“Gonzales has now done more to promote short-term memory loss than any Hispanic American, breaking the old mark held — by Cheech.”
— Jon Stewart on The Daily Show
Crooks and Liars has the video.
Best line of the day, so far
Rummy’s back in the news, giving interviews about a planned memoir and foundation designed to encourage “reasoned and civil debate” about global challenges and to spur more young people to go into government.
It’s rich. Maybe more young people would go into government if they didn’t have to work for devious bullies like Rummy who make huge life-and-death mistakes and then don’t apologize.
Best line of the day, so far
“It’s amazing how many Republicans call me for support. And then they go, ‘You’re a Republican right?’ And you go, ‘Well I’m actually a lifetime Democrat.'”
Toby Keith, who also says:
“Some sorority chick called my daughter a — said she shouldn’t be in the sorority cause she’s just white trash with money,” Keith said. “And she laughed. And my wife was all upset. But I thought it was a great album title.”
Thanks to Functional Ambivalent for the link.
Best line of the day, so far
New England Patriots?
Illegal spying.
USA PATRIOT Act?
Illegal spying.
Coincidence? I think not!
Best line of the day, so far
“Notre Dame’s new definition of a Hail Mary pass: ‘The center snap.'”
Seattle Times reader Janice Hough as reported in Sideline Chatter.
Most obvious (yet usually unspoken) line of the day, so far
“I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.”
Alan Greenspan in his new book The Age of Turbulence as reported by The Washington Post.